3 men sued in fatal Kauai car crash

POIPU, Kauai » A father and son have been sued for supplying alcohol to an underage female driver in a 2004 accident that killed her and a 22-year-old man and permanently injured another man.

According to the lawsuit, James Kimo Burgess and his son, Justin Keo Rita-Burgess, supplied alcohol to 17-year-old Alyssa Gonsalves, who, later that night, crashed her car into a tree along Poipu Road.

Gonsalves, of Kekaha, and 22-year-old Tyson Pagador died in the crash. Adam Frazier, 21, suffered brain damage and is permanently disabled.

Pagador's parents have filed suit against the Burgess men as well as David McLernon, a San Diego resident who owns the duplex where the party was held. According to the suit, the elder Burgess was employed as a property manager for McLernon at the time of the crash.

"Negligence (by the Burgesses) was a substantial factor in the cause of Gonsalves' intoxication and death," Teresa Tico, the Pagadors' lawyer, wrote in their lawsuit.

Rita-Burgess and the three victims were all employees at Plantation Gardens Restaurant at the time of the accident.

2 men plead guilty in federal drug case

Two Big Island men have pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges stemming from the distribution of two pounds of methamphetamine.

Shannon Ebanies, 28, of Pahoa and Bruce K. Kepa'a, 33, of Kailua-Kona both entered their pleas Tuesday before U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright to one count each of conspiracy.

Ebanies also pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute. Kepa'a also pleaded guilty to distributing more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. Both face a mandatory minimum of 10 years to life imprisonment and five years of supervised release when sentenced in May.

According to federal prosecutors, the two were arrested in November 2005 after investigators recovered a half-pound of methamphetamine in Ebanies' car. Ebanies apparently had traveled to California earlier with about $18,000 cash and purchased two pounds of methamphetamine but mailed the drugs to himself using a private mail carrier, prosecutors said. When Ebanies received the drugs, he delivered the methamphetamine to Kepa'a.

Navigator Thompson to address conference

Nainoa Thompson, Polynesian navigator and sail master, will be the key speaker at an annual symposium on Maritime Archaeology and History of Hawaii and the Pacific, to be held Feb. 18-20 at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, Big Island.

The University of Hawaii-Manoa's Marine Option Program and Department of Anthropology are presenting the symposium, "Our Voyaging Ancestors." More than 20 presentations will be featured, including studies of Pacific voyaging, the Mahukona Harbor steamship site, World War II archaeology in Australia and the tourism potential of archaeology sites. For more information or to register, see www.mahhi.org or call 956-8415.

TAKING NOTICE

Hawai'i Maoli, a nonprofit organization of the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs, has received $8,500 from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to conduct a retreat.

Parents and Children Together has received the following grants:

» $20,000 from the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation.

» $168,000 from the HMSA Foundation to PACT's Hana Like to support the Hawaii Coalition for Dads.

» $30,000 from the Charitable Payments Committee of Bank of Hawaii and the George F. & Ida Tenney Castle Trust to support a project coordinator at PACT's Kaneohe Community Family Center.

» $360,000 from the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation for the purchase of Ohia Shelter to provide a haven for abused women.

First Hawaiian Bank Foundation has given $28,075 to Saint Louis School to replace scoreboards at the football field and in McCabe Gymnasium.

Le Jardin Academy has received a $500 grant from the Chung Kun Ai Foundation, the philanthropic arm of City Mill Co., for the financial aid program.

Paul Newman Charities has awarded $6,000 to the Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific through a program at Star Markets. The hospital will use the money for a dry-heat hand apparatus to help patients.

Dowling Co. has donated $5,000 to the Nature Conservancy's Corporate Council for the Environment.

The UPS Store at the Pearl Harbor Navy Exchange has raised $3,533 for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Hawaii has received $10,000 from Hawaiian Telcom for program support.

Police, Fire, Courts

Star-Bulletin staff

HONOLULU

Wayward tire critically injures boy

A 5-year-old boy was critically injured by a runaway tire yesterday morning while walking to school with his mother in Salt Lake, police said.

The boy had been walking mauka along the sidewalk on the Ewa side of Bougainville Drive at about 7:35 a.m. when he was struck by the tire, police said.

The tire came off a boat trailer that was traveling makai on Bougainville, police said.

The boy was taken to the hospital in critical condition, but his condition improved.

Police said the driver of the truck towing the boat trailer was a 46-year-old Ewa Beach man who was later found at Keehi Boat Harbor. Police said he was not aware that the tire had gotten loose.

Runaway teen found near Piikoi Street

Police found a 16-year-old runaway Tuesday who had been reported missing after he failed to board a plane last week.

Police found Kamuela Martin at 1289 S. King St. near Piikoi Street at about 12:20 p.m. Martin had been dropped off at Honolulu Airport on Feb. 1 to board a flight to Utah but decided not to get on the plane and then fled the airport area, police said.

Family members said Martin had a medical condition involving seizures and needed to be found soon.

Teen arrested as arson suspect

Police arrested a 15-year-old boy Tuesday in connection with two deliberately set blazes at Firestone Tire and Service Center in Kalihi.

Firefighters were called to the scene at 1414 Dillingham Blvd. on Jan. 22 and again Feb. 1 and found old tires burning in a trash bin. The first fire caused an estimated $10,000 in damage to the roof overhang, and the second caused about $200,000 in damage to the interior of the building after the fire spread.

Kalihi Crime Reduction Unit officers investigated the case and identified the teenager as the suspect in both fires. He was arrested for investigation of two counts of second-degree criminal property damage and then released pending an investigation.

LEEWARD OAHU

Man, 46, drowns off Kahe Point

The Medical Examiner's Office said the victim, identified as Edward L. Frye of Honolulu, drowned.

Police said Frye was seen by an acquaintance at about 5:10 p.m. entering the water to go fishing and was later seen yelling from the reef area but then jumped back into the ocean. Kayakers later found his body about 100 yards offshore.